Germany's Ostpolitik and the Road to Helsinki Egon Bahr

In: IFSH (ed.), OSCE Yearbook 2005, Baden-Baden 2006, pp. 23-28. Egon Bahr Germany’s Ostpolitik and the Road to Helsinki To some extent, it is a miracle that, 30 years after the Helsinki Final Act, there is anything to commemorate at all. Previous events made it appear unlikely that a conference would ever be founded in the first place. In 1954, Vyacheslav Molotov, the then Soviet For- eign Minister, had proposed a pan-European security conference. This proposal, which aimed in part at disrupting the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to NATO, set to take place the following year, could easily be rejected, as it – quite unrealistically – did not provide for the participation of the USA. In 1964, when Poland proposed to the United Nations that discussions should be held on a system of European security, this was considered to be a reflection of that country’s interest in détente. Two years later, the War- saw Pact adopted a “Declaration on Strengthening Peace and Security in Europe”, which was approved by the Communist parties at a meeting several months later. NATO now reacted by producing the Harmel Report, which asserted the complementarity of détente and defence. After the erection of the Berlin Wall, Willy Brandt had consistently argued that co-operation with the East needed to follow West Germany’s inte- gration in the West. In his view, there were several reasons why it was in the interest of both Germany and the peoples of Eastern Europe to promote eco- nomic co-operation and facilitate human contacts. He saw closer European links as necessary for improving Germany’s prospects. Furthermore, Brandt was not willing to accept that the West should leave the “peace initiative” entirely to the East, arguing rather that the West needed to take up the chal- lenge by interpreting the word “peace” in its own way and making its own proposals. He had therefore already argued in favour of “active coexistence” in the USA in the 1960s and believed that a European conference would be feasible if the USA were to participate and the West could agree on unified and distinctive positions. In 1969, two new factors changed the situation. In the summer, the So- viet Union proposed a conference to improve East-West relations. Because the proposal envisaged the participation of the USA, America was now called upon to respond. In the autumn, Brandt became Chancellor, having expressed his determination to pursue a deliberate policy of détente and rapprochement with the East (Ostpolitik). Germany’s European allies did not want to leave Germany alone in this. Or, to put it undiplomatically: It was easier to control German-Russian talks when Europe acted collectively. This was especially true for Washington. Once the Germans had taken the initiative, the road to Helsinki was open. 23 In: IFSH (ed.), OSCE Yearbook 2005, Baden-Baden 2006, pp. 23-28. In Bonn, people started to believe that the conference would become a reality. While this was welcome, it was also dangerous, as it naturally en- tailed East Germany becoming an equal partner in discussions, allowing it to achieve its international breakthrough while remaining obdurate with regard to all of our wishes. It was therefore necessary to conclude the treaty on basic relations between the two states (Basic Treaty) and the agreement on civilian transport links with Berlin (Transit Agreement) in advance. Bonn had to work to ensure that the conference did not come about too quickly. The three Western occupying powers understood this. In addition, they calculated that it was far from certain that West Germany’s bilateral treaties would be con- cluded, and that Brandt would remain Chancellor. In this case, all the risks associated with détente, including the conference, would be avoided. This aspect of the vote of no confidence Brandt had to face in April 1972 was clear to only a very few. After this obstacle had been overcome, the Treaty of Moscow ratified, and the Berlin transit question answered so effectively that it never again became an acute issue while Germany remained divided, the way was clear for the signing of the Basic Treaty and preparations for the conference could be- gin. Brandt had already found an acceptable formula for conventional force reductions with Leonid Brezhnev in Orianda in 1971. Negotiations on mutual and balanced force reductions (MBFR) commenced in 1973. The start of these negotiations smoothed the way for the conference; it received the name CSCE, being renamed the OSCE in 1995. However, at this point, there was still no certainty that this process would finally result in a joint document. The West began to get a taste for the topic, made its own substantive contributions to the negotiations, and pressed the Soviet Union – which wanted to ensure that “its” conference was a suc- cess – to make compromises that neither Moscow nor Washington had expected at first. The core issue within the “security basket”, namely the status of the borders of all states in Europe, had already been decided by the Treaty of Moscow. This declared that they were not “inviolable”, nor “sacrosanct”, nor “unchangeable”, nor “immovable”, but that they could be amicably and peacefully changed in accordance with the principle of non-violence. This was a key legal and political prerequisite for German unification. The discussion of human rights and fundamental freedoms turned into a marathon series of negotiations which were carried out with great subtlety and could only be followed by experts. This led a frustrated Brandt to com- ment that the Communists could not be induced to negotiate themselves out of existence. His preference would have been for more easily achievable, simpler wordings, especially since his aim was to set in motion a process and he did not consider the Kremlin to be merely kind of district court. The eventual outcome allowed Lech Walesa and Vaclev Havel – and, with some delay, also civil rights activists in the German Democratic Republic – to ap- peal to the Helsinki Final Act. Only with the conclusion of this document did 24 In: IFSH (ed.), OSCE Yearbook 2005, Baden-Baden 2006, pp. 23-28. the word “dissident”, whose use had previously been restricted to a religious context, take on a political meaning. It is not possible here to examine the extent to which Helsinki is responsible for overcoming the division of Europe, but it certainly played an indispensable role. In retrospect, the resistance to the Final Act is astonishing. Although the USA, Canada, and 33 European states (including the Holy See, and excluding only Albania) were gathered together, the German opposition rejected the result on the grounds that it would cement the division of both Germany and Europe. The opposition in the USA was more important. Ronald Reagan, who was to stand for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, criti- cized incumbent President Gerald Ford, saying: “I’m against it and I think all Americans should be against it.” The New York Times wrote that the conference should not have taken place, arguing that Ford had crossed the line between détente and appeasement, while Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn made a public attack on the USA, claiming that Eastern Europe was effectively being aban- doned to its fate by Western Europe. Under this barrage of public criticism, the US President hesitated considerably over whether he should travel to Hel- sinki at all. On their arrival, they found that Brezhnev was clearly suffering from the after effects of his recent stroke. There is no doubt that the participants had differing expectations of the Final Act. Some – and clearly not only those from the East – expected a con- solidation of the status quo and long-term relief from the querelles alle- mandes. Bonn was banking on a process favourable to German and European development. The amazing thing was that the majority were wrong. But equally amazing were the effects of a document that was not even a valid treaty under international law, but merely a statement of intention with some ceremonial trappings. When founding the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, President Harry S. Truman declared that the organization could bring peace to the world “if the governments are willing”. The comparison with the OSCE is obvious. It may be weaker than the UN, but it is no less dependent on the wills of governments. And they left it weak and without the powers, the means, or the personnel that would have enabled it to perform its tasks and achieve its goals. This was the result of the shifting interests of the “great powers”. Although the Soviet Union sometimes pushed for progress, Russia was later less well disposed towards interference in its sphere of influence. There was but a single area in which the interests of all the parties involved could be united – and it was no coincidence that this was arms reduction. On the basis of a process that – following years of effort – appeared to have run out of steam, Mikhail Gorbachev was able to get the ball rolling again. In November 1990, the heads of state or government of the two alliances agreed on measures to reduce conventional forces and signed the CFE Treaty. This led to the largest reduction of conventional armed forces in history. Over 50,000 weapons systems were destroyed, and 2,400 mutual inspections have 25 In: IFSH (ed.), OSCE Yearbook 2005, Baden-Baden 2006, pp. 23-28. taken place. The desired “balance” – the effective inability to attack by means of conventional weapons – was achieved, putting in place a key precondition for German reunification.

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